The Story of How I Got Kicked in the Face and the Series of Unfortunate Events that Transpired Thereafter

Despite the ridiculously long subject line, the story is really quite simple.

I was dancing, and I got kicked in the face.

For those of you that are my Facebook friends, you have watched the saga unravel and develop. There have been ups and downs and a few weird plot twists.

At first, right after "the incident", I thought I just had mascara or an eyelash in my eye. I thought "it's ok, i'll go to sleep and when I wake up, it will be gone."

I was so very wrong. I woke up, still convinced that everything was ok and there was no need for me to enter any kind of medical facility.

My darling boyfriend, Brett, who has a little bit of experience with corneal abrasions, thought differently.

He convinced me to go to a walk-in clinic (It was a Sunday.) When we got to the walk in, they told me I needed to go to the ER.

I'm thinking "ain't no way I'm paying $250 to go to the ER for them to just give me some eye drops and send me on my way."

So I did what any normal 26 year old girl would do and I called my mom. I am crazy lucky that my mom works for an eye doctor. She called the on-call optometrist, then she and my dad met me and Brett at the doctor's office. It was a whole big family affair.

What the eye doctor told me was exactly what Brett told me, except about a zillion times worse. (I'm not being dramatic.)

Basically, i had the worst corneal abrasion in the history of corneal abrasions. (Ok, maybe I'm being a little dramatic)

However, at one point, my doctor was researching tissue grafting. In my eye.

I was frustrated. I was in pain. And I was required to put ointment on a q-tip and shove it in my eye every night. (For the record, I have to do that until at least the end of June, too.)

What would have taken a "normal" person (read: someone who isn't diabetic) just 2 or 3 days to recover, it took me much much longer. I couldn't work that whole week. THE WHOLE WEEK. I couldn't see or concentrate or even stay off medication long enough to even answer a quick email.

Even when I returned to work, I still wasn't 100%...I probably wasn't even 75%, but I couldn't afford anymore time off.

Are you ready for the plot twist?

After 3 weeks (yeah...3 weeks...) my eye finally starts to feel better. My vision isn't completely restored, but its close enough, and I am feeling GOOD!

So one morning I hop out of bed as my alarm goes off (ok that never ever happens) and I rub the sleepy out of my eyes. Except the sleepy doesn't come out of one of them. 

I know what you're thinking. It's the injured eye! Its playing tricks on me!

You are wrong.

my "good eye" is now having the EXACT same symptoms as the injured eye was. So, after a few days of denial, I make another eye appointment. 

My eye doctor (who is completely amazing, by the way) told me it could be one of two things. 
1. My eye injury (one I had 19 years ago) could be acting up. (Now, of all times, really!)
2. My eye is having "sympathy pains." YEAH, ITS A REAL THING.

So basically, my eye is doing the exact same thing my injured eye was doing after the corneal abrasion occurred. (cloudy vision, pain, burning, watery, etc.)

I had to repeat the same treatment in my "good eye" as my injured eye.

Currently it's been 1 month and 1 day since "the incident"...I am virtually symptom free, although I still have the occasional flare-up, where I wake up in the middle of the night, and my eye feels like its going to explode, and then I freak out. But it never lasts more than about 45 minutes and then life is good.

I am still putting drops and ointments in my eye daily, and will have to continue that until my follow up appointment at the end of June.

As a person who likes to find the silver lining in crappy situations, here are the sparkles I found:
1. I wasn't wearing my glasses (which is odd) and I could have had glass being pulled out of my eye.
2. I got to sleep A LOT.
3. I know more about the cornea than anyone who isn't an eye doctor.
4. My friends and family gave me warm fuzzy feelings of love with their outpouring of love and support!

So there it is. The story of how I got kicked in the face. 

Swing dancing is fun. Its just that every 6 years or so, you might get kicked in the face.